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On colonization, racial supremacy and playing Indian
A response to ‘Statement of Global Indigenous Identity and Solidarity’
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Indianz.Com
The following was written by Rhiana Yazzie (Navajo). It was originally posted on Facebook and is republished here with permission.
I’m responding to the “Statement of Global Indigenous Identity and Solidarity” that Rulan Tangen, the founder and artistic director of Dancing Earth Indigenous Contemporary Dance Creations published online on October 12, 2020.
I urge you all to read this masterpiece justifying theft: the stealing of Native American identity, fellowships, grants, leadership, thought leadership, movie roles, and countless other robberies big and small, personal and public. Her letter makes up the three legged dog of recent self-revelatory letters by women claiming to be an ethnicity that they aren’t, ask Jessica Krug and CV Vitolo-Haddad.
But I want to point out how this letter is more deeply disturbing and damaging than those. Rulan and Dancing Earth’s letter never once take active responsibility for stealing Native identity. Cloaked in Las Vegas proportions of smoke and mirrors, the letter actually makes a detailed case for why it is OK for Rulan to be a Filipino woman playing “Indian.” The letter even blames everyone else for assuming her Filipino features were Native American while she dressed up in Plains Indian traditional clothing, Southwestern style jewelry, and modeled Native American designer’s work.
What we should see as we read this list of excuses is how Rulan has masterfully delivered the idea of being “Indian” without actually being “Indian” and wants to get your permission to keep doing it.
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